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If you would enjoy real freedom, you must be the slave of Philosophy.
Epicurus
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Interpretation

What this quote means

True freedom comes from a deep understanding and adherence to philosophical principles.

This quote by Epicurus emphasizes that genuine freedom is not merely about doing what one wants but requires a commitment to philosophical thought and understanding. By dedicating oneself to the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, individuals can attain a more profound sense of liberty that is grounded in rationality and virtue.

Themes

FreedomPhilosophyUnderstandingWisdomCommitment

In practice

Example use cases

In a university lecture on ethics.

More from Epicurus

The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
EpicurusRead
Accustom yourself to believe that death is nothing to us, for good and evil imply awareness, and death is the privation of all awareness; therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life an unlimited time, but by taking away the yearning after immortality. For life has no terror; for those who thoroughly apprehend that there are no terrors for them in ceasing to live.
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The wise man who has become accustomed to necessities knows better how to share with others than how to take from them, so great a treasure of self-sufficiency has he found.
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We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.
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I was not, I was, I am not, I care not. (Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo)
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Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.
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A little wisdom, now and then

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